Rev. Bam Noriega
United States
Rev. Bam Noriega is an Assistant Pastor at Founders Metropolitan Community Church in Los Angeles and a minister committed to radical inclusion, community care, and social justice.
They joined Founders in 2024 as a seminary student and completed their Master of Divinity at Moravian University School of Theology in 2025. Before moving to Los Angeles, Bam served in outreach and social justice ministry at MCCLV in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
At Founders, they have helped lead the church’s “Church Outside the Walls” ministry and Pride Ministry, bringing pastoral presence and community engagement to Pride events and justice actions throughout Southern California.
Their work includes LGBTQ+ advocacy, immigrant justice, public witness, and support for communities seeking greater visibility and belonging.
Bam was a featured speaker at the May 2026 launch of Flag50 and the Steps to Liberation installation at Founders MCC. Their ministry is grounded in the belief that faith is most powerful when it moves beyond the walls of the church and into the community.
Steps to Liberation
Step by Step, Together to Liberation
The creation of the Steps to Liberation installation began with a vision Bam Noriega shared in late 2025: that the steps leading into Founders Metropolitan Community Church should be painted in rainbow colors.
On May 17, 2026, that vision became a reality.
In her dedication speech, Bam described the steps as more than an entrance to a church. They are steps that lead outward into the community—a visible declaration at a time when LGBTQ+ people are facing efforts to erase their identities and histories. The rainbow colors, she said, stand for hope, resistance, joy, and holy belonging.
Bam connected the installation to the history of the AIDS crisis, when the community lost beloved friends and half of its clergy yet refused to abandon one another. She recalled how what began in one living room became a movement of churches and communities around the world.
The rainbow steps therefore carry both history and a call to the future. They honor the elders who carried the community forward, the people walking beside us today, and the generations still to come.
As Bam proclaimed throughout her speech: “Step by step, together to liberation.
